Bottle filler and capper machine



MMS, i945. R. F. nomen. 38mm Y v BOTT-LE FILLERAND CAPPER MACHINE Filed Oct. 29, 1943 3 Sheets-Sheet l ug. 28, 1945. R F DORRLL l 2,383,571

BOTTLE FILLER AND CAPPER MACHINE Filed Oct. 29, 1943 y 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 "Aug, 28, 1945. R, F. DORRELL 4 l 2,383,781

BOTTLE FILLER ANDl CAPPER MACHINE Filed (3st.l 29, 1943 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I?? @few for Patented Aug. 28, 1945 'Bo'r'rLE FILLER AND cAPPEn MACHINEI Robert Francis Dorrell, Chicago, Ill., assigner of iilflty'per cent to William C. Dvorak, Chicago, I

Application october 29, 1943, serial No. 508,145

. 9 claims.

The present invention relates to bottle iilling and capping machinesfand more particularly to an hydraulically actuated bottle filling and capf ping machine.

The-bottles to be iilled travel in straight paths under the actuation of a novel and improved hydraulic actuating methanism which eliminates bottle which has been lifted into contact there- .the usual gearing and driving means whichrare present in the usual machine.

In the usual bottle iilling and capping'machine the bottles travel in curved paths under the actuation of motor driven gears and moving parts producing a machine which is characterized by its noise of operation resulting from the presence of a multiplicity of moving parts; In the bottle filling and'capping machine constructed in accordance with the present invention thev numberV of moving parts is reduced to a minimum and their elimination produces results in the machine which is quiet in its operation. The hydraulic system which produces the necessary travel of thebottles, both horizontal and vertical is simple and economically manufactured and ischaractle filling and capping'head 2 positioned thereabove. The present invention resides in the first unit, the specific construction of the liquid feeding and of the bottle capping means not being a part of this invention, it being important only that they are capable of filling and capping a with. In the drawings the filling head isindi cated by the reference character 3 while the capping head is indicated by the reference character" 4...

The bottle moving unit I is housed within a casing 6 which is divided by a transverse wall 1 into a lower liquid-containing reservoir 8 and into -an upper mechanism-containing chamber 9.

Upon the top surface of the casing 6 are positioned a plurality of elongated guides II, each pair of guides defining a path for a line of bottles, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. Each path passes under a pair of filling and capping heads- 3 and 4 and at the end of each line there is prois to urge the bottle line along its path between terized by its freedom from breakdown and me- I chanical trouble. e It is an object' of the present invention to pro-- vide a new and improvedbottle filling and capping machine. Another object of the invention y is to4 provide anew and novel hydraulically operated bottle iilling and capping machine. A still further object of. the invention is to provide a vided a bottle pusher I2 the function of which the guides in rsteps which are calibrated to advance the bottles one by one under the respective heads 3 and 4. It is to be' noted that there are a plurality of pathways, and accordingly an actuating element I2 at the en'd of each path, the

bottle filling and capping machine in which a central pressure creating means actuates a plurality of bottle lling and capping units simultaneously. A still further object of the invention is to provide an` improved hydraulically actuated f mechanism in a bottle iilling and capping machine. TheseY and other more specic objects will appear upon reading the following vspeciiica- .tion and claims land uponconsidering in connection therewith theattached drawings.

Turning nowto the drawings in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated and .in which the same reference character refers ,to the same parts in the various views;

Figure 1 is a front view of a machine constructed in accordance with the presentinvention, certain parts being shown in section;

Figure 2 is a vertical section through the machine at right angles to the showing of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view of the hydraulic and electrical circuits of the machine. Y

The machine may be divided broadly into two main parts,` a bottle-actuating unit, indicated' l generally by thereference character I, and a botbottles being fed into the pathway in any suitable manner, or manually. At the opposite end of the bottle travel there is' provided a conveyer belt I3, clearly shown in Figure 2, and onto which the lled and capped bottles are pushed by the succeeding bottles to be carried away from 'the machine.

As an empty bottles enters one of the bottle.l

pathsit moves in successive increments towardy the filling head 3 and finally is advanced to a point immediately thereunder as is clearly illustrated by one of the bottles in Figure 2. When so positioned the bottle rests upon a resilientlysupported lifting element, lifting cylinder ror lifter I4 which is mounted for vertical displacement within a guideway I6. Each lifter system includes a piston I1 slidingly positioned within the cylinder I4 and which is actuatedv by a vertical rod I8 transmitting its force to the lifter proper I4 through a compressible coil spring I9 the presence of which provides a resilient mount- Y ing for the lifter. y l e The construction insures that the bottles are i lifted gently and yet firmly into contact with the filling or `capping head. As illustrated in Figure.

2 a bottle which has been lifted into contact with the lling head 3 is subsequently advanced under the capping head 4 to be lifted into contact with that head to be capped. The two lifters under heads 3 and 4 are adapted to work simultaneously and while one bottle is being viilled the adjacent bottle, which has previously been filled, is being capped. To actuate the bottle lifters I4 and the pusher l2 there is provided an hydraulic system which 'makes use of the liquid, which may be oil, conf tained in the reservoir 8 of the main casing 6. The rod I6 leading to each lifter I4 Iis connected to an hydraulically actuated piston 2i positioned within a cylinder 22. The latter is provided upon opposite sidesof the piston 2| with ports 23 and 24 which are so positioned as not tobe sealed oi by the piston in its travel. Liquid forced into cylinder 22 below the piston 2l forces the piston upwardly and raises the bottle lifter. Liquid forced into the cylinder 22 above the piston forces it downwardly to lower the bottle lifter. .To actuate the bottle pusher I2 that element is connected to a rod 26 which in turn is connected to a piston 21 within the hydraulic cylinder 28 having ,inlet ports 3| and 32 upon opposite sides of the piston. As inthe case of the lifters the bottle pusher I2 is actuated by the hydraulically actuated piston depending upon its direction of movement which in turn is controlled by the entrance of fluid under pressure into the cylinder 28.

To control the flow of uid into the cylinders and so to control the lifting operation and the pushing operation there is provided a uid pump.

port 23 at the lower end of la bottle-lifting cylinder 22. To a second exhaust port of the valve 44 connects afiuid pipe or conduit 48 which connects to the upper inlet port 24 of each of the lifter-actuating cylinders 22, an intermediate pipe 49 being connected from each port directly to the pipe 46 in each case. 'As is clearly illus'- trated in Figure 3 the connections are identical for the lifters which lift the bottles'into contact with the filling head and with the capping head.

With the valve 44 positioned to direct oil through the pipe 46 the pistons 2| 'are all forced upwardly andthe iifters are moved vertically upcreases. further piston movement is prevented, and the pressure within the pipe 41 and the valve I correspondingly increases. At a predetermined pressure valve 5i automatically changes its position and diverts the oil from the cylinder 22 into a pipe 53 which leads through a time delay valve 54 to the port 3l of the cylinder 28 hous' ing the pusher-actuating piston 21. Time delay valve 54 has a 'characteristic which delays the passage of the uid to the piston 26 for a suflicient period of time to enable the bottle positioned under the lling head to become filled. 'At the end of this time interval the valve 54 opens completely and tluid enters the cylinder 28 thereupon moving the piston 21 to the right, as viewed in Figure 3,' and the pusher l2 into position to receive a new bottle. Had the valve 44 been positioned to direct oil through the pipe 48 a similar action would have occurred at the sequence -valve 52 which would have redirected the oil from the intake port 24 of the cylinder 22 into a pipe 56 leading to the'port 32 upon the opposite side of the piston 21. No time delay valve corresponding to valve54 is present in the pipe 56 for when oil is passing through thevalve 52 the lifter, piston is being moved downwardly and when it reaches its iinal position there is no necessity for delay to enable the bottles to be filled and instead l it is only desirable that the bottles be advanced.

l move in the reverse direction. .In the case of ,valve 44. and the pump 86 the drainage Vpipes per-y j mit collected oil to return to the reservoir. check valve 58 is provided between the valve and the reservoir for safety purposes.

Clearly the valve 44 controls the operation oi the various pistons. 'Ifo control the valve and to effect the sequential operation of the machine the movable valve element is connected to a'pair of solenoid armatures 9| and 62 having individual stator windings 63 and 6 4. The energization of winding 63 causes the armature 6| and the valve element to move in one direction while the energizaticn of winding 64 effects movement of armature 62 and o! the valve element in the opposite direction. The energization of winding 63'effects the movement' of the valve element to the right as illustrated in Figure 3 to connect the pipe 48 withthe pump 36 `while energization of Ward. With the valve 44 positioned to pass oil through the pipe 48 the pressure of the oil is upy on the opposite side of the pistons 2i in the cylinders 22 and the lifters are moveddownwardly to their lower positions.

It is desirable that the bottles be intermittently raised and lowered, and that during the period in which thebottles are loweredfthey be advanced in their travel. To accomplish this there is provided a sequence valvein one of the pipes 41 and one -pipe 49. These sequence valves are indicated by the reference characters 5l and 52.y With oil under pressure passing from ,the pump through the ivalve 44 and into the pipe 46 it passes via the pipe 41 into the lifter-actuating cylinder 22 resulting in the piston 2l being forced upwardly. When further movement of the piston is opposed as when the piston Vhas reached the upper end of its travel, that is, the lifter i4 has forced a bottle tightly against the head 3, the pressure inwindings 63 and 64 there are provided a pair of the winding 64 eirects'the movement of the valve element to the left, as viewed in Figure 3, and connects the pipe 46 with the pump.

To control the enei'gization of the solenoid switches 66' and `61 which are normally open but which are adapted to be held in closed position by a cam actuator 66 carried by the rod 26 whichalso actuates the bottle pusher l2. The source of incoming current indicated by the leads 1i and 12, and the switches 66 and 61 are connected in series, respectively, with their solenoid windings 62 and 63 across these incoming leads 1| and 12 fby the conductors 13 and 14, respectively.

. 'Ihe operation of the construction, of the bottle nller and capper machine'constructed in accordance with the present invention is as follows.

'I'he operator places the machine into operation by closing the manually operable switch 38 thereupon energizing the driving motor 31 which in turn actuates the hydraulic pump 36. Fluid, such l3 will be moved upwardly into contact with that head and will be filled with liquid and the bottle in contact with the head 4 will be supplied with A a cap.

After the piston 2l has reached the upper limit of its travel the liquid pressure will increase and the valve 5l will be actuated to direct fluid through pipe 53 to the time delay valve 54.` This valve delays acting a suitable time to permit the fbottle in contact with the head 3 vto become filled and thereafter will direct the fluid under pressure into the valve chamber 28. As a result .of this action piston 21 will move to the right, moving with it .the bottle pusher I2 into a bottle receiving posiiton and also moving the cam switch actuator 68 to the right to close the switch 6l, Upon the switch 61 closing the winding 63 of the solenoid controlling the valve 44 is connected directly across the power leads 'I I and 12 and the armature 6I is actuated moving to the right and e'ffecting the closing of the pipe 46 and opening of the pipe 48 to the pressure-creating pump 36. Oil under pressure is directed through the pipe 48 and through the individual pipes 49,1; the upper port of each of the cylinders -22 and the piston therein is forced downwardly .thereby lowering the bottles from filling and capping heads 3 and 4. When the piston 2l actuating each lifter has reached the lower end 0f its stroke the pressure Will build up within the upper part of the cylinder 22. When the pressure reaches a predeter-y mined point the valve 52 will automatically change its internal relationship so that the oil is directed through the pipe 5B to the cylinder 28 through they port 32. moved to the left as viewed in Figure 3 resulting in the advance of the bottles in the bottle path and of the movement of the switch actuator 6B finally into closing contact with the switch 66. Upon switch 66 being closed the winding 64- of the solenoid is energized and the valve movable element of valve 44 is moved to the left,- as viewed p in Figure 3, to its original position in which the :fluid under pressure is again directed through the Piston `21 will then beV pipe 46. 'Ihe lifting operation then again takes I place. i

. I claim: l

1. In a bottle filling and capping machine, a path for bottle travel, hydraulically actuated means to move a series of lbottles along said path simultaneously and in a step-by-step progression,

hydraulically actuated ,means to lift bottles in said series into operative relationship with lling and capping means positioned thereabcve, a fluid pressure generating unit, valve means including pressure-operated valve means controlling the flow of fluid to said'hydraulically actuated means to lift said bottles, a solenoid to position one of said valve means, electrical switch means posi-f tioned by the movement of said first-mentioned hydraulically actuated means to move a series of |bottles and controlling the energization of said solenoid, and means to delay the movement of said last-mentioned means for a predetermined time interval after the lifting of said bottles to insure the filling of the bottle. y

2. In a bottle filling and capping machine, a

3 path formale travel, hydramicauy actuated moving means to ,move a series of bottles along said path simultaneously land in a step-bystep progression, hydraulically actuated lifting means to-lift bottles in said series into operative relationship with filling and capping means posi-` interval sufficient to enablesaid bottle to be filled,

and means to lower a lifted bottle.`

3. In a bottle filling and capping machine, a path for bottle travel, hydraulically actuatedv moving means to move a series of bottles along said path simultaneously and in a step-Aby-st'ep progression, hydraulically actuated lifting means to lift bottles in said series during periods of rest in said progression into operative relationship with filling and capping means positioned thereabove and including a resilient compressible bottle supporting element, a, fluid pressure generating unit, fluid conduit means connecting said moving l and lifting meansto said unit, and a. pressure operated valve in said conduit means normally directing the fluid to said lifting means but operable to direct said fluid from said lifting means under a predetermined pressure acting against the supporting element to lift the bottle into contact with said illling or capping means. .Y 4. In a bottle filling and capping machine of the type having bottle moving and bottle lifting and lowering means, a path for bottle travel, hydraulically actuated moving means to move a series of bottles along said path simultaneously and in a step-by-step progression, fluid pressure generating means, fluid conduit means connectingl said moving means to said generating means, fixed means to illl a bottle in said series, a vertically movable bottle lifting element positioned in said path below saidfixed means to lift a bottle in said series of bottles during periods of rest in said progression, an hydraulic piston and cylinderunit to lift said bottle lifting element, conduit means connecting said unit to said fluid pressure generating means, means to direct fluid through said conduit means to actuaie said lpiston to lift said element, and pressure actuated valve means to shunt said fluid past said unit,

in the presence of a predetermined fluid pressure effected by theresistance to movement of said piston. 5. The construction defined in the precedin claim characterized -in that said bottle lifting 1 element is vertically compressible and includes resilient means through whichA reactive force from said fixed means to fill a bottle is transmitted to said piston and to said fluid to actuate said pressure actuated valve means.

6. In a bottle filling and capping machine of the type having bottle moving, raising and lower- ,ing means, a bottle lifting element, bottle mov- A ing means to move a Ibottle to be lled on to said element. a. first cylinder, a `first fluid actuated piston in said cylinder connected to said element,

first fluid conduit meansy connecting said cylinder to a source of fluid under pressure, a second cylinder, a second fluid actuated piston in said second cylinder connected to said bottle moving lmeans to actuate same, and a second fluidv conduitl means connected to said second cylinder, and pressure operated valve .means connected to said first and second iiuid conduit means normally directing uid to said first cylinder to factuate said first piston and said bottle lifting 'element but operable to direct the flow of uid conduit means to said second cylinder to actuate saidsecond piston and said bottle moving means -under a predetermined fluid pressure resulting L from said first cylinder through said second fluid sure operated valve in said conduit means normally directing the fluid to said lifting means but operable to direct said fluid from said lifting 'means to .said moving means under a predetermined pressure acting against 'the supporting element to lift the bottle into contact with s'aid filling or capping means, secondfiuid conduit means connecting said moving and lifting means to said unit to convey a pressure to lower said lifting means, a second pressure operated valve in said 'second conduit means normally directing uid to said lifting, means to lower same but operable under a predetermined pressure opposing further downward movement of said lifting means to direct fluid from said lifting meansto said moving means, characterized in that said the pressure of uid from said vsecond fluid conduit means and withdraws to its position at the said first cylinder upon opposite sides of said piston to said source, valve means controlling the direction of uid to said conduits, a second cylinder, a second fluid actuated piston in'said secondl cylinder, second conduits connected` to said second cylinder upon the opposite sides of said secl ond piston, pressure controlled valve means connected to said ilrst and second conduits controlled by the :duid pressure effective within said first cylinder to direct an actuating fluid pressure from said iirst cylinder 'to said second cylinder. and a delayed action valve in one of said ,second conduits to provide a time delay in the flow of iiuid to said second cylinder after the pressure in said rst cylinder on a lifting piston start of the working stroke under the pressure of fluid from said uid conduit means, and Ameans to alternate the flow of fluid to said uid conduit means, and to s'aid second uid yconduit means from said'fiuid pressure generating unit.

9. In a bottle filling and capping machine of the type having bottle moving and bottle lifting and lowering means, a path for bottle travel, hydraulically actuated moving means to move a series vof bottles along said path simultaneously and in a step-by-step progression, fixed means to fill a bottle in said series, a vertically movable bottle lifting element positioned below said iixed means, an hydraulic piston and cylinder unit to movement reaches the predetermined value to insures. sufficient time period for vfilling a lifted bottle, and means to alternate the flow of fluid.

from said source to said first conduits connected upon opposite sides of said flrstpiston.

8. In a bottle filling and capping`machine, a.-

path for bottle travel,l hydraulically actuated moving means to move .a series of bottles along said path simultaneously and in a step-by-step progression, hydraulically actuated lifting means to lift bottles in said series during periods of rest with filling and capping means-positioned thereabove and including a resilient compressible bottle supporting element, a iiuid pressure generating unit, fluid conduit means connecting said moving and lifting means to said unit, a preslift said bottle lifting element, conduit means connecting said unit to a source of fluid under pressure, means to directiiuid through said conduit means to` actuate saidk piston tol lift said element, pressure actuated valve means to shunt said iiuidpast said unit in the presence of a predetermined iiuid pressure effected by the resistance to movement of said piston to said m'ov ing means to effect the movement thereof to a starting position, and means to, direct fluid through said conduit means to actuate said pis- 'ton to lower said element, and second pressure actuated valve means to shunt iiuid past said unit in the presence of a predetermined pressure opposing further lowering of said element to said moving means to eiectthe movement thereof 

